Street-car gate



(No Model.)

l W. J. MELD.

STREET GARGATE.

No. 545,116. P11-,@1161 sept. 101, 1895.

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Peteur VILLARD J. HIELD, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

STREET-CAR GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 546,116, dated September 10, 1895.

Application filed December 3l, 1894. Serial No. 583,442. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLARD J. HIELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street-Oar Gates; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention is especially designed for electric street-railway cars, although capable of use on other kinds of cars, and has for its object to provide a convenient and reliable gate for controlling the entrance to or exitfrom the car.

To this end my invention consists in the novel devices and novel combinations of devices hereinafter fully described, and defined in the claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention, wherein like letters refer to like parts.

Figure l represents in side elevation an electric street-railway car equipped with my improvement, some ports being broken away for better showing the construction. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section approximately on the line X X of Fig. l, with some parts broken away; and Fig. 3 is a skeleton view, in perspective, showing the gates and the lever connections for controlling the same for the most part detached from their supports.

a d a2 a3 represent, respectively, the body portion, the front-end vestibule, the rear-ent platform, and the platform-steps of an ordinary street-railway car, such as are used in the electric systems in the Northwest. This body is mounted on suitable trucks a4 and truck-frame 0.5 of the ordinary standard construction, and may either be equipped with an electric motorA (not shown) for use as a motor-car or be a trailer, designed for connection to the motor-car. In all such cars,

especially when equipped as motor-cars, the motorneer is provided with a front-end vestibule a ,partitioned off from the body of the car, and wherein the motorneer constantly remains when the car is in service, and therefrom controls the movements of the car. Such cars are usually arranged to receive passengers from the rear end only, and on the double-track systems employed in all large cities are usually arranged to permit entrance and exit only from one side of the rear platform a2, or, ortherwise stated, only a single set of steps a3 are provided at the reauend platform a2, which are located on what is known as the outside of the car. Great difficulty has been experienced in controlling the entrance and exit of the passengers to and from the car. In spite of all precautions and care on the part of the conductor, passengers will persist in jumping on and off while the car is in mo tion. In consequence thereof accidents frequently occur with resulting large damage suits, in many instances, against the streetrailway company or other proprietors of the street-railway. To meet these conditions and overcome these objections I provide a double or two wing gate l) b, the wings of which are preferably made of' open or net-like wire work, fixed to upright posts b and marginal strips b2. The posts b are journaled below in bearing-brackets 58, fixed to the lowermost of the steps as, and are journaled above in bearing-brackets b4, one of which is fixed to the car-body and the other to the handrail or guard of the platform.

The posts h are provided near their lower ends with crank-arms b5 fixed thereto, but located thereon so as to project in opposite directions. The said crank-arms b5 are pivotally connected to the opposite ends of a common draw-bar b, which in turn is connected at its forward end to a draw-rod o7, which extends forward under the car-body, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and is pivotally attached at its forwardend to a crank-arm 118 fixed to the lower end of a hand-shaft b9 Z210. The lower end of the shaft b9 has its bearing in a bracket hu, which is bolted to two sills as of the motorneers platform a7 in the vestibule a. The upper end of the shaft b9 has its bearing in a hub of a two-arm bracket Z912, the arms of which are bolted tothe side posts as or other fixed parts of the vestibule ot. The forward end of the draw-rod b'fis curved, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, so as to permit the parts to assume the position shown in the several views. The draw-rod o7 may work through one or more suitable keepers Z913 fixed to the car-body. The crank-arms b5 on the ICO gate-wing posts h are of greater length than the crank-arm bs on the hand-shaft b9. Hence the hand-shaft b9 and the crank-arm hs will have to move through a greater number of ,degrees than the crank-arms??5 and the posts b in throwing the gate-wings from their closed to their open position, or vice versa. The parts are proportioned to throw the gatewings through a little more than a quarter of a circle, and the relative proportions of the crank-arms b5 and the crank-arm h3 are such that to accomplish this result the hand-shaft U and the crank-arm 68 will move through a little more than a half-circle. Otherwise stated, the crank-arm las throws past the center in each direction, and is thereby made to lock the gates either in their closed or in their open position. In Fig. 1 all the parts are shown as lthey would appear when the gatewings are closed, and the same is true of the parts shown in Fig. 3. In Fig. 2 all the parts are shown as they would appear when the gate-wings are open.

From the foregoing statements it must be obvious that the gate is entirely and solely under the control of the motorneer in his vestibule a', and that the gates cannot be opened until the motorneer sees fit to operate his gatelever Z910. The entrance and exit of the passengers to the car is therefore solely and entirely under the control of the motorneer only. Hence, entrance and exit need only to be possible when the car is at rest. The advantages of such an arrangement have already been pointed out.

It will, of course, be understood that While I have shown and described the gate as composed of a pair of wings that this gate might take various forms. For example, the gate might be composed of a single Wing, or it might be in the form of a sliding bar or folding gate. In other Words, any form of a gate which is provided with operating connections which extend to the motorneers platform would be within the scope of my invention.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

l. The combination with a car body, of a gate controlling the entrance thereto, and lever connections for operating said gate, ar-

ranged automatically and positively to lock the same in one of its extreme positions, under the action of moving the gate, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a car body, having a rear end passenger entrance and a front end platform for the motorneer, or car operator, of a two-winged gate controlling said rear end entrance, and lever connections for operating said gate, extending to the motorneers platform, said operating connections being arranged automatically and positively to lock the wings of said gate both in their open and closed positions, under the action of moving the same, substantially as described.

3. The combination with the car-body, of a gate controlling the entrance thereto, a drawbar having connections to said gate, at one end, and a hand operated crank-shaft at the other end of the said draw-bar, having a crank-arm connection thereto, which crankarm is arranged to be thrown, in the act of moving the gate, to and from a dead center, whereby said gate when moved to its closed position will be automatically locked, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a car body, having a rear end platform, for the entrance or exit of passengers, and a front end platform for the car operator, of a two-wing gate closing the entrance to said rear platform, a drawbar connected to crank arms on the pivot posts of said gate-wings, a draw-bar extending forward from said connecting bar to a hand shaft on the operators platform, and a crank arm on said shaft connected to said draw-bar, which crank arm is of less length than the crank arms on said gate-wing posts, whereby the hand-shaft crank will loe thrown by the dead center either to open or to close the gate-wings, and will thereby lock the gatewings in their open or closed positions, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLARD J. HIELD.

Witnesses:

WM. R. MORRIS, FRANK P. MERCHANT. 

